Saturday, October 19, 2013

In defense of Tommy Robinson

...Tommy Robinson is completely committed to defeating Islamism. We all know he has a dodgy past but that’s nothing unique amongst the general population and it’s certainly nothing unique amongst political activists. His past doesn’t disqualify him from speaking out against Islamism and it doesn’t make his opinions any less valid...I can’t stand class-based victim narratives but even I have to conclude Robinson has committed the ultimate crime of being a working class white lad and expecting to have an opinion on Islamism, which will be the defining issue of the century people reading this blog post will die in. I dismissed Robinson because of his background and because of the EDL’s image. I should have known better than to be such a snob...Here’s something you might not know about Robinson: because of the numerous death threats against him and his family he was offered a new identity and a new location by the state. He refused. If that doesn’t represent moral and physical courage of the highest possible order then someone can tell me what does. He refuses to leave his home town through intimidation...

In case you’re wondering whether Luton is significant or insignificant, it’s significant: it’s where the four 7/7 bombers started their rail journey into London. Oh you do remember 7/7, don’t you? I do because I got the Tube to work that day. I was sitting at my desk, probably surfing the internet or pretending to look busy when I heard a massive bang. That bang was the sound of my fellow Londoners being murdered in Russell Square.

In his videos I’ve seen in Robinson a greater understanding and commitment to our fundamental civil liberties than I’ve detected amongst 99% of the lawyers I’ve worked with in my career. Robinson is warning everyone of the storm that’s already here and yet people refuse to listen to him through a combination of snobbery and a fear of being associated with this country’s Great Unwashed Underclass.

Yes, the EDL has an image problem and so does Robinson. So what? Are we hoping Islamism will be defeated by a perfectly manicured group of PPE students with Double Firsts from Oxford whose highest calling in life is to become a faceless Special Advisor in the Ministry of Lies?

There isn’t a huge field of candidates willing to speak out against the backward ideology that is Islamism because the consequences are so severe. We’re not just talking about physical danger from Islamists; we’re also talking about the perpetual slurs from their apologists and also the instinctive assumption from everyone else that anyone who’s white (and especially working class) can’t possibly be approaching this from anything other than a racist and hateful angle. You really can’t be too picky when looking for people to defeat Islamism. You pretty much have to take who you get. We’re lucky to have anyone, let alone someone as good as Robinson...